Those who issued quit notice to northerners, Yoruba are miscreants — Urhobo group

UDU— THE Urhobo Youth Leaders Association, UYLA, in Delta State, yesterday, distanced itself from the quit notice issued northerners and Yoruba, last Thursday, to vacate the Niger Delta before October 1, saying the ‘so-called’ agitators, who issued the illegal notice under the aegis of Coalition of Niger Delta Agitators, CNDA, were miscreants.

Spokesperson of the association, Terryson Orhiunu, in a statement, said: “On the issue of the quit notice given to northerners and Yoruba by some Niger Delta miscreants, we disassociate ourselves from the faceless coalition. Our area is open for everybody to do business and all we want is equity and justice in Nigeria’s affairs.”

UYLA called on the Federal Government “to speedily implement the demands of the Pan-Niger Delta Forum, PANDEF, by setting up a dialogue team to quickly resolve the Niger Delta problems.

“We must be involved in the exploration and exploitation of oil and gas business in our land, not the situation where those who do not have a drop of oil in their domain are now the ones determining all that is happening in the oil and gas industry,” it added.

The Urhobo group frowned at a recent publication by a self-styled APC leader in the state who criticized PANDEF, saying the politician was seeking cheap popularity.

It said: “We do not see PANDEF as a political organisation, it is a regional organisation genuinely advocating the well-being of Niger Deltans and all ethnic groups are carried along in its activities.”

“We do not know the favour the self-acclaimed APC leader, who could not deliver his polling unit, is seeking from his sponsors, but he is known to be anti-Niger Delta and should leave PANDEF alone.”